Researchers come up with polymer-based crystalline material

Scientists have developed a crystalline-structured material made of polymer that could be used for high-strength engineering applications. "In nature, chemistry in confined environments is very often used to regulate biomaterial synthesis, [but] this strategy is under-explored in man-made materials. Here, a porous coordination polymer was used to template the synthesis of a polystyrene network," said Jean-François Lutz of the University of Strasbourg in France.